Our approach
We are creative researchers with an international reputation for boundary-pushing thinking in arts and education.
Academic and action-based research, philosophy and thinking-with-children reflects and informs all our artistic work. It goes beyond evaluation or measuring impact – it’s a constant, curious enquiry into the nature of creativity, relationships, and the competency of young children.
Together with children, families and artists, we ensure exploration and enquiry are the creative heart of our culture.
Research in practice
Our approach is pioneering, particularly in the way we place research within practice contexts – we are on the floor, in the moment, and engaged with children and their families.
We ask questions not just to find answers, but to deepen our understanding and challenge our assumptions. This research helps us foreground children’s innate creativity and their capacity for knowing as artists, thinkers, and collaborators.
Our artists, directors, and partners are all part of a shared culture of enquiry, woven through residencies, performances, and regular sessions, helping us imagine what early years arts can be.
PlayTech
PlayTech is a radical three-year research and development project funded by Youth Music Energiser Fund that invites young children aged 2-4 years to co-create experimental, multi-sensory, audio-visual technologies. This unique project builds relationships with families, community partners, digital artists, theatre makers and our team of creative technologists
Shaping early years arts
Our outputs are as varied as our questions, including peer-reviewed journal articles, project reports, short films, podcasts, creative media, music and sound, and shared reflections.
Our directors regularly contribute to international conferences, forums, and publications, helping to shape global conversations about early childhood, creativity, and participatory arts.
Resources and publications
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Hearing from the early childhood arts sector about working with children under three
A research report by Dr Jessica Pitt & Dr Charlotte Arculus, commissioned by Arts Council England.Read the report -
The Inside Out research project
A study of wordless sound-play as a pedagogy for early childhood artists and educators, funded by the Royal College of Music and The Froebel Trust.Find out more -
More-than-Words
In this blog, Dr Charlotte Arculus unpicks the title of her PhD thesis on reconceptualising two-year-old children’s onto-epistemologies through Improvisation and the Temporal Arts. -
SALTMusic research project
SALTMusic is a research project that brought together speech and language therapists and early childhood music practitioners to develop new pedagogical approaches to support speech, language and communication needs.Find out more -
Germination: Growing our community of musical play
An experimental model of professional development for early childhood educators and emerging artists to develop their musical play practice with very young children, funded by Youth Music.Find out more
